October 4, 2010

Did you think it was possible — 16 years after Pedro Zamora on "The Real World" — to wring intense pathos out of a reality show character's HIV-positive status? But that's what happened on "Project Runway," where perhaps there have already been HIV-positive contestants and the fact that a male contestant is gay is no revelation at all.

Anyway, I've loved Mondo Guerra all along, and Episode 10 made me cry. You can watch the whole thing here.

5 comments:

I thought it was lovely. Many in the comment section over there wanted to make it about politicians...but I saw the episode as a call to families. Even with all the public acceptance and understanding, what Mondo feared (and what hurt him so) was his family's rejection.

I had feelings I hadn't felt in almost 20 years hearing Mondo "come out" about his HIV-status. Angry feelings, mostly.

Altogether, it was a very emotional, Lifetime-y episode. I even felt sympathy for *Gretchen*. And the end reminded me of the Wizard of Oz when Valerie went around and said what she liked about each person.